Alice Averlong🏳️⚧️Can't figure out how to get this damn ghidra extension to work. I have so many versions of ghidra and still, nope.
I JUST WANT TO HACK 32BIT DOS GAMES IS THAT SO WRONG
installing a new JDK and a different version of ghidra and a github actions version instead of a the release version
IT LIVES
so I got the ghidra-lx-loader extension from here (and unzipped it to reveal the zip), then got that version of ghidra (10.2.0), then installed it. seems to work fine
https://github.com/yetmorecode/ghidra-lx-loader/actions/runs/3518280046
https://github.com/yetmorecode/ghidra-lx-loader/actions/runs/3518280046
oh, error strings that specify what function they are, my beloved
oh this is a weird thing I didn't know existed.
you embed an int3 in your code, then a short JMP, and the ASCII characters "WVIDEO".
If the ASCII code is found, it ends up outputting a debug string in the Watcom debugger.
this game is so weird. I'm like 99% sure it saves background you're currently on into the save file.
not, like, an index into which background, but the background ITSELF
not, like, an index into which background, but the background ITSELF
correction: that's now 100%
it definitely does.
which is actually helpful.
I can load the game, move left and right, then save the game.
this'll export the current background to a file
I can load the game, move left and right, then save the game.
this'll export the current background to a file
I'm extracting all the backgrounds from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Harbringer.
I still haven't figured out how to attach the right palettes to images.
it's 256-color, and there's 43 palettes here. a bunch of them are similar so I can't just match them manually
it's 256-color, and there's 43 palettes here. a bunch of them are similar so I can't just match them manually
yeah I'm gonna have to automate extracting all these images and then figure out the palette nonsense. there's a bunch of files here. 307 of them, although at least one is a duplicate.
my wizards-apprentice script keeps trying to open my text editor
why
what is there for you in the hex editor, keyboard/mouse macro?
ahh it's because dosbox's "capture mouse" is a toggle. I'm inadvertently un-capturing.
automating a DOS game that requires you to capture the mouse in DOSBox is a fucking nightmare.
You can't tell where the cursor is! you can't consistently move it, either!
You can't tell where the cursor is! you can't consistently move it, either!
and this game is 100% mouse driven. I'm not sure there even ARE any keyboard commands.
maybe I can spy into DOSBox and pull the X/Y coordinates out of the virtual mouse driver?
assuming the virtual driver even has an idea. the game might have put the mouse driver in relative mode, and is doing its own cursor movement nonsense
(🖬🖫). ₍^. .^₎⟆@foone mice just want to be free 🐀
Max™@foone
Could be worse, missus kept having baffling mouse issues, it would randomly go back to last page with ZERO obvious reason until I opened it to clean and saw the scroll wheel popped out of the mount when it fell the other day so it was LIGHTLY resting on the *click wheel left* button.
Could be worse, missus kept having baffling mouse issues, it would randomly go back to last page with ZERO obvious reason until I opened it to clean and saw the scroll wheel popped out of the mount when it fell the other day so it was LIGHTLY resting on the *click wheel left* button.
GenghisKen Coar@foone
Harbringer or Harbinger? 🤔 The first one may be correct, but it makes me think of a Texan selling Hair Club for Men. 🤣
Harbringer or Harbinger? 🤔 The first one may be correct, but it makes me think of a Texan selling Hair Club for Men. 🤣
Nicolas Ward 
@foone I had that one! Peak non-rectangular-prism software packaging.
Nick@foone Awesome!
Scott Vitale@foone God, I loved that game!
retsel@foone it seems like I should just scroll back farther instead of mentioning file formats from Prince Interactive. Because that'd be both a selfish question and if there's an answer, it'd ruin my own fun
Canageek@foone !!! I played that game! I could NOT get past the tail gunner holodeck game and gave up!
cybik 
@foone... star trek stuff. Now you have my attention.
campbell@foone this looks great tho
Adam R. Wood@foone Worst Magic Eye ever, nothing hidden
Crowded.news@foone that's truly odd. A weird hack to get around some other issue that somehow was more difficult to fix or implement?
BogusMeatFactory@foone if you figure this out let me know. We've been trying to hack the Dark Sun MMO, Crimson Sands and it is a pain!!
barsteward@foone 16-bit FTW.
@barsteward sadly I don't get to pick how the game I'm hacking was written
@foone Ah, sorry, now I see your previous tweet.
グレェ「grey」@foone I mean, M$'s DOS was wrong, but hacking things on it? It almost seems as if it may be an ethical duty!
Jacob Alexander Tice
Dan Turner@foone that sounds unnatural
Armour@foone according to the old piracy videos the government used to put out - if you “copy that floppy” you are a hardened criminal ;). I’m glad that society has separated hacking from piracy nowadays but back in the DOS games days they were conflated.
Staren, the Last Stardaughter@foone IT IS NOT. IT IS A GOOD AND HEALTHY URGE. DO IT MORE.
JulianCalaby@foone Thanks for linking to that, I've been trying to analyse this weird probably-not-a-MZ-format-executable for a while now and I think now I can finally prove that it's just a junk file added to this app to make it look complex.
@foone Yep, double-confirmed: whoever produced this file replaced 0x00 bytes with 0x20 which is obvious once you find lots of strings formatted like "e n c r y p t i o n", which only make sense if they're 16 bit chars, which means that the spaces should be 0x00s. Converting the 0x20s back to 0x00s results in a still-broken file, so it's bogus non-executable bumph added to confuse things. Hilariously this is 100% on-brand for the author of this app and the rest of the "encryption" and "security" in it.
caleb@foone i’m so happy to read infinite foone threads on the toot app